


Origins

by Camphalfblood44



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Identity Reveal, Miraculous History, Peacock Miraculous, Secret Identity, no Hawkmoth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 12:26:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6854569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camphalfblood44/pseuds/Camphalfblood44
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By day, Emily was just like any other girl in Paris; going to lycée, seeing her friends, and thinking about her future. But at night, she transformed into Paon, a superhero with peacock-like abilities and a passion for justice. One day when she saves a fellow classmate from a fire, she realizes that theres a lot she doesn't know about her miraculous. Her kwami warns her that it's better if she doesn't know, but Emily is good and getting what she wants, and she'll do anything she can to learn more about where her powers come from, even if it means befriending the quiet Gabriel Agreste and keeping secrets from the people she loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in the Miraculous fandom, I've had this story idea for a while and I'm posting it now because of the hiatus.  
> Emily's peacock costume is inspired by @wontonton on tumblr http://wontonton.tumblr.com/post/141479142583/quickly-hammering-out-the-designs-im-going-to-use

 

Emily Baudin smelled the smoke before she even saw the fire.

 

She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, making her way towards the fire. She stopped once she was standing on top of a house directly across from the burning building. She recognized this building- it was a small library close to where she lived. And it was on fire.

 

Police cars and fire trucks surrounded the burning library, and a little farther behind them was a line of police tape blocking off a large group of spectators. They probably had seen the pillar of smoke coming from the building and wanted to see what was going on.

 

Emily noticed that the fire had barely spread through the building. It only took up a small portion of the second floor. Thick, black smoke poured out through the windows of the building. She realized that the fire must have started recently. It was a good thing she came early.

 

Normally, if a 17-year-old girl like Emily tried to walk directly towards the fire, she would have been sent away by the police and told to go stand with the other civilians. But right now, Emily wasn’t a normal 17-year-old girl.

 

Right now, Emily was Paon. A Parisian superhero that fought crime dressed as a peacock. She didn’t choose to dress as a peacock; it came with the magic her kwami gave her. But Emily wasn't picky- she was just grateful that she didn’t have to be dressed as a dung beetle.

 

Being Paon meant that police and firefighters would take her seriously. It meant that instead of just standing around helplessly watching the fire spread from a block away, she got to be on the front lines, helping to contain it.

 

No one noticed her at first when she came down from the rooftop she was on. Everyone was focused on the fire in front of them. The police were trying to control the growing crowd of people, while the firefighters tried to contain the fire. The first person to notice Paon was a little girl who was in her pajamas and holding her mothers hand.

 

“Look! Mama, its Paon!” she exclaimed. Paon assumed that she must have been getting ready for bed when her mother brought her here to see what was happening. The little girl tugged on her mother’s hand and pointed towards Paon. And just like that, everyone turned their focus from the fire to her.

 

Paon gave the civilians a quick salute as they started to cheer for her, then made her way towards the nearest police officer. He was a middle-aged man who had looked almost bored before he noticed Paon. When he realized she was walking towards him, he stood up straighter and adjusted his cap on his head. Paon smiled to herself- she had learned a while ago from her kwami that when she was transformed, she gave of an aura of importance that made the people around her respect her. That was just one of the many powers her transformation gave her.

 

“Paon!” The officer started. “Thank you for coming!“

 

“Of course. Is there anyone inside?” she responded.

 

“Not that we know of. The library was closed, so we don’t think anyone could have been inside.”

 

“What could have caused this?” Paon wondered out loud. The fire had gotten bigger since she arrived, but it was still small enough that the building was still standing.

 

“The fire started fairly recently, but we aren’t sure what caused it. Whatever it was, it started on the second floor, towards the front of the building. It hasn’t even spread through the whole library yet.”

 

“And your _sure_ no ones inside?”

 

“Doubtful.” He responded. “We asked around.” He pointed to the group of spectators. Half of them were watching her talk to the police officer, while the other half was focused on the fire.

 

Paon thanked the man and walked over to the civilians, her peacock tail flowing behind her like a cape. As she got closer, the people who were watching her started calling out her name once they realized she was walking towards them. Seeing the civilians being so reassured by her presence reminded her how much she loved being a hero. She knew that even without the reassuring vibes she gave off when transformed, the people of Paris believed in her. They believed in her so strongly that all she had to do was give them a smile or a wave and they would feel like everything would be okay.

 

The crowd had doubled in size in the two minutes since she had arrived. She stopped in front of the crowd and waited for them to settle down before she addressed them. “Citizens of Paris,” Paon started. “Do not panic, I know its late, but the fire is being contained-“

She was interrupted by the faint sound of a scream. She tried to pinpoint the location of the scream when she heard another cry of help from the same unknown voice.

 

“Oh my god!” Someone from the crowd exclaimed. Only a second later did she realize where the cry of help was coming from.

Someone was still trapped inside the burning library.

 

The police officer from before made eye contact with her. Everyone was staring at the building, frozen in shock.

 

Paon didn’t hesitate. She ran straight for the library entrance.

 

Her sudden movement seemed to snap some of the firefighters out of their shock. They went straight back to work, trying to stop the fire. The police officers pushed against the crowd of cheering civilians. No one ran after her. She had her job, and they had theirs.

 

Although the first level of the library had not been touched by the fire, that didn’t make it safe. She could tell that the ceiling would collapse, and soon. The moment she entered the library the smell of smoke overwhelmed her.

 

She used one hand to cover her nose and mouth while her other hand went to her fan, which was dangling from her side. Her peacock themed fan was a magical weapon that appeared attached to her side when she transformed into Paon. It looked and felt just like an ordinary fan, but its magical properties made it capable of so much more than creating a small breeze. Fanning around her could usually create bursts of wind strong enough to push her of the ground, so that it seemed like she was flying for a few moments. Also, its sharp edges could be used as a weapon if necessary. But Paon tried to avoid using the edges of her fans on other people; she didn’t feel very comfortable injuring others unless she had no other choice.

 

She opened the fan and blew the smoke away from here. The smoke kept coming back, but for a few moments she could breathe clearly again. She heard another cry for help that sounded much closer than it did before. But still not close enough.

 

“Hey!” she called out, hoping the stranger could hear her. “Can you hear me? I’m coming to get you. Don’t panic!”

 

The response was immediate. “Help! I’m upstairs. I’m trapped; the doors to the stairs won’t budge. Oh god, help me! I’m gonna die!”

 

“Didn’t I say not to panic?” Paon said aloud to herself. “Guess he couldn’t take the heat.” She fanned herself once more to push the smoke away, but realized that once she went up to the second floor, her fan was useless to her. Oxygen was like fuel to the fire, so using the fan anywhere near the fire would just make the library burn quicker. She closed her fan and reattached it to her side.

 

To her right was a set of doors leading to the stairs. She walked over to the door and braced herself to open it.

 

Once she opened the door, she ran up the stairs until she reached the second floor. She could hear the guy on the other side pounding furiously against the door, but couldn’t see anything that was obviously trapping him, so she assumed that the door must have been locked.

 

“Hey,” Paon started. “Stay calm, I’m here to get you.”

 

“Ok, please hurry.” The person on the other side of the door responded. She could see the almost immediate effect her voice had on him- he still sounded terrified but he stopped hitting the door.

 

Even though the door was locked, it was pretty thin and should have been easy to knock down if you did it properly. Paon assumed that the guy on the other side of the door was too panicked to try and strategically kick the door own. He probably just mindlessly banged on it and hoped that he would knock it down eventually. But Paon had a level head and kwami magic on her side. She knew that with the weak structure of this particular door, she had to kick right below the door’s handle to knock it down. She also knew that one of the many advantages of being transformed was the superior strength she got from her kwami.

 

So she yelled, “Stay back!” And kicked the flimsy door with as much strength as she could.

 

The door didn’t go down like it did in the movies, which only mildly disappointed Paon. It didn’t even go down all the way. Half of the door broke off and fell, while the other half stayed in place. But it was more than enough.

 

Barely even glancing at the boy, she walked through the hole in the door. Before she could even reach the boy, the smell of smoke hit her and stopped her in her tracks as she tried to cover her mouth and nose. She didn’t realize how quickly the fire was spreading, but it had already taken up most of the second floor and was dangerously close to the spot they were currently standing in.

 

The smell of the smoke was overwhelming. Her arm barely blocked out the odor, and she could feel a tickle in her throat. She knew it was a bad idea to use her fan so close to the fire, but she could barely breathe and she could tell by his coughing that the guy she was rescuing wasn’t in any better shape.

 

Paon didn’t see any other option. She pulled her fan out and cleared away some of the smoke surrounding her. The smoke receded, and she sighed in relief when she saw that her fan hadn’t fueled the fire.

 

Now that the air around her was clear, Paon grabbed the arm of the guy in front of her and pulled him out the door, ignoring the sounds of protests he made.

 

“Quickly. We have to go. Are you able to walk?” she asked him.

 

“No,” he started, his voice sounded raspy, probably from the smoke inhalation. “Wait, I can’t-“

 

She assumed he was saying ‘No’ as in ‘No, I can’t walk’ so she pulled him closer and carried him over her shoulder. They didn’t have time for a conversation; whatever he was going to say would have to wait until they left the building.

 

Paon used her fan to clear away some of the smoke again, then squeezed through the hole in the door, careful to make sure that the guy she was carrying on her shoulder didn’t get too banged up. He had finally stopped complaining, but that was only because he was too busy coughing to try and say anything.

 

She went down the flight of stairs as fast as she could. Carrying a guy that was a whole head taller than her didn’t seem to be slowing her down, but she wasn’t too surprised about that. Her kwami had explained to her a while ago that when she was transformed she was much stronger and faster than she was normally.

 

When she finally got to the first floor of the library, she noticed that the smoke was much thicker than it was when she was first here. The guy in her arms was still coughing, and the smoke was just barely thick enough that it made it hard for her to see where she was going. She couldn’t get to her fans without putting him down, but she couldn’t get them to the exit without clearing away some of the smoke first. So she took the coughing boy off her shoulder and gently set him on the ground next to her. Her eyes were watering and it was hard to breathe, but when she pulled out one of her fans and cleared the air around them, she could make out the exit a little ways in front of her.

 

She turned to pick the boy back up again and was surprised to see that he wasn’t sitting on the floor where she had placed him. He had stopped coughing, and was on his hands and knees attempting to push himself up from the ground. He had a panicked look on his face, but the way he forced himself off the ground made him seem more determined than anything.

 

Paon bent down to his level and tried talking to him. “Hey, listen.” She started. Her voice seemed to sooth him, like she knew it would, but then the panic set back in. “The smoke is making you weak,” she continued. “Let me help you get back up so we can get out of here. We’re almost out.”

 

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was another long coughing fit. Paon was tempted to just throw him over her shoulder again and just walk out of the burning building, but the boy had stopped coughing and interrupted her thoughts with a hoarse whisper.

 

“My bag.” He said. His voice was dry and raspy, so it took her a moment to understand what he was saying. But when the words finally registered in her head, she was confused.

 

“You-your what?” she asked.

 

“My bag, it’s still upstairs.” He responded. “I tried to tell you but-“ he stopped to let out another dry cough.

 

She used her fan to clear some more smoke away, and reminded herself that they couldn’t stay there for long; the fire was only going to get worse.

 

“I tried to tell you earlier,” he finally continued. “But you wouldn’t let me finish. I _need_ that bag, it’s important. Please we have to go back for it.”

 

Paon couldn’t believe it. She had thought that he had been injured, or was hurt or _something_. The last thing she expected was that he would be wasting precious moments trying to convince her to go back for a stupid _bag_ of all things. With the rate the fire had been spreading, there was a good chance that his bag was nothing but a pile of ash by now.

 

“Your life is more important than your bag. Come on, we need to go.” She carried him over her shoulder again and started running towards the exit. She tried to focus on the smoke surrounding her rather than the boy on her shoulder yelling at her to go back.

 

When Paon pushed the doors open, she was hit with the feeling of fresh air around her. She took a deep breath and put the boy down from her shoulder, this time supporting his weight as he tried to stay standing. The crowd of civilian onlookers started cheering the moment they say her walk out of the building. They cheered harder when they saw that the boy was alive and seemed to be mostly okay.

 

Two firefighters came towards her and she placed the boy in their care. They each took one of his arms and half guided, half carried him away from the building and away from Paon.

 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine!” She called out to him. He still seemed panicked, and she couldn’t help but try and calm him a little with her voice. But doing so had just seemed to remind him that she was still there.

 

He squirmed against the firefighters’ hold, until he was able to look behind him and make eye contact with Paon. “Wait! Please! My bag!” He exclaimed.

_Oh, great._ She thought to herself. _Not this again._

 

“Please, Paon. There’s some really important stuff in there! I need to go back!”

 

His voice was still raspy and hoarse, and he was too weak to do anything more than struggle a little. Not that they were outside and it was easier to see, she noticed that his hair and clothes were covered in a thin layer of ash. When he starting coughing, his coughing fits were dry and long. He was obviously more affected by the fire than he let on. But for some reason, he seemed more concerned with his bag than he was with his own health.

 

 _Maybe he hit his head on the way down._ She thought. But he didn’t seem like he was not in his right mind. He didn’t slur his words, and he looked her in the eye when he talked, and he seemed more on edge than out of it.

 

She looked behind her to where the burning building was slowly getting engulfed in flames. The firefighters were trying to contain it, but all those paper books and wooden shelves were probably just fueling the fire. The building hadn’t collapsed yet, which must have been a sign that the fire hadn’t destroyed _everything_ yet. And-

 

 _Wait, no!_ She stopped that train of thought. _You are not going to run into a burning building just to get some strangers bag for him! Think rationally, Emily._

 

Rationally, she probably only had a few minutes left before the fire spread throughout the entire top floor. So if she was seriously considering going back for some bag, she had to do it _now_.

 

She braced herself to go forward when the police officer from before appeared in front of her.

 

“Paon, thank you for saving that boy. I’m not sure anyone else could have done it and made it back out in time.” He said to her.

 

“Of course, that’s what I’m here for.” She replied. “But if you would excuse me, I need to do one more thing before I leave.” She tried to go forward again, but he blocked her path.

 

“Are you trying to go back into the building?” he asked. Before she could answer, he continued. “Paon, I know you’re a superhero, and I know you can do lots of things that others can’t, but the building is about to collapse.” He motioned towards the firefighters. “They say that it won’t stand for more than a few minutes!”

 

He was right of course, and Paon knew that. But when she turned back and say the desperate look on the boy’s face, she couldn’t help herself. Her kwami had warned her before that putting emotion before logic was her greatest weakness, and here she was doing it again.

 

“If the building is going to collapse soon,” she said to the police officer. “Then I better go now so I can make it back in time.” She gave him her signature salute and smile, and then ran past him and back into the library.

 

Behind her, she could her the civilians cheering for her. They had no idea why she was going back in, but they all believed that whatever it was for, it must be something heroic.

 

Risking her life for a bag probably wasn’t the most heroic thing she had ever done.

 

She cleared away some of the smoke, but it was much thicker than before. It only took a few seconds for it to bring tears to her eyes, and she had to continuously wave the fan in front of her just so she could see.

 

She made it to the stairs, and started climbing up as fast as she could. The smoke had gotten so much thicker than it was when she was first here. It seemed to be choking her. In one hand she held her fan and was waving it almost non-stop in front of her, and the other arm was covering her mouth and her nose.

 

When she finally made it to the top floor, she squeezed in through the hole in the door she had made earlier. She could barely see, but she didn’t want to risk using her fans up here. There was a possibility she could make the fire worse by using them.

 

Paon spent a few moments trying to find the bag without clearing the smoke. She squinted at the floor, and walked forward. The heat of the fire and the smoke in her lungs made it almost impossible to concentrate on anything. She bent down and started crawling on the floor, which made it a little easier to see, but not much.

 

She knew that she only had a few minutes. She had to either find the bag or leave without it. She knew it was probably best to just leave. She tried to find it, but it was very likely that the fire had already turned it to ashes by now. She could practically hear her kwami’s voce in the back of her head telling what to do. _“You need to learn_ _how to put reason before your emotion. You can’t win every battle.”_

 

She knew that when she got home, she was going to get another long lecture from Laurrel about responsibility. But she was already this far, and she refused to go back to the boy empty handed.

 

“Please, _please_ don’t make it worse.” Paon muttered under her breath as she pulled out her fan. She braced herself for a moment, and then waved it in front of her to clear some of the air.

 

She stopped the moment she realized that she used too much force. A much stronger gust of wind than she anticipated blew out in front of her.

 

But it did its job. She could see that ten feet in front of her, was a dark, wooden desk that had been spared from the fire. And on top of the desk was a dark purple backpack.

 

The boy’s bag.

 

She covered her mouth and nose with her arm and pushed herself of the ground. She reattached her fan to her hip and used her free hand to grab the backpack and sling it over her shoulder. “I am on _fire_ tonight!” she said to herself.

 

Paon turned around and stopped in her tracks. The broken door, her way out of the building, had caught on fire. She was trapped.

 

“Spoke to soon.”

 

Now she was starting to panic. _No, do not panic, Emily. You’re a hero- you can get out of this. Just take deep breaths and relax._ She tried to take a deep breath and was rewarded with a lungful of smoke air for that idea.

 

“Why don’t I ever listen to Laurrel?” Paon asked herself aloud between coughs.

 

Once she finally stopped coughing, she took a moment to think. There had to be another exit. She had only been inside this library once before, but she couldn’t remember where the emergency exit was located. She went back down to the floor, where there was just a little bit less smoke, and started crawling away from the burning door that trapped her in here.

 

Crawling was awkward when she had a backpack on one shoulder and a fan in her hand. She kept going forward, inch by inch, and looking around her for an emergency exit sign. It was just a matter of time before the building fell, and she knew she was pushing her luck with every second that passed.

 

Every second felt like a lifetime, and when she finally could make out a window in front of her, she wanted to cry tears of joy.

 

Paon pushed herself up from the floor so she could stand in front of the window. It was much larger than she was, so she could fit through it just fine. And she knew how to use her fans to give her a graceful landing, so she wasn’t worried about having to jump out.

 

In action movies, all it took to break a window was landing a clean punch trough the center and watching as the glass shattered harmlessly around you. Paon knew that I reality, it really wasn’t that clean and easy. Windows were strong, and a single punch wouldn’t shatter it. And if your hands were unprotected, then the glass could cut you and injure you.

 

But when Emily was transformed, she became stronger. So a single punch was good enough to break a window. And her peacock costume covered almost all of her skin with a tough, impenetrable material. So she didn’t have to worry about injuring herself.

 

She readjusted the backpack on her shoulder and smiled. “I’ve always wanted to try this.” She said to herself.

 

Paon punched the window with all of her power. It still didn’t break like in the movies, but she was able to break off enough glass so that there was a person-sized hole in front of her.

 

She pulled out both of her fans- one in each hand. She stepped right at the edge of the window and looked down. She could see the civilians, the firefighters, and the police officers had all turned to look in her direction. Even though it was nighttime, he bright blue suit stood out. The little girl who had cheered when she first showed up started cheering again, tugging on her mother’s hand and pointing at Paon.

 

Paon waved at the crowd, then jumped.

 

She wasn’t flying, she knew that. Technically, what she was doing was more like gliding in the air. But the sensation she felt when she was this high in the air, totally in control of when she touched the ground, felt a lot like flying to her.

 

Paon spread her fans out and let herself slowly make her way to the ground. If she could be in the air forever, she would. But unfortunately, her transformation didn’t come with wings.

 

When she finally touched the ground, the crowd of people started cheering once again. Her throat felt itchy, and her eyes were still watery, but she made herself stand up a little straighter and smile at the crowd.

 

She walked over to where the boy was sitting. He had a blanket wrapped around him, and there was a paramedic next to him asking him questions. When he saw Paon, he sat up straighter. As she got closer to him, he noticed his backpack on her shoulder and his eyes widened.

 

Paon walked up to him and bent down in front of him. “Here you go.” She said, handing him the purple bag. She waited a moment, because he looked like he wanted to say something. But when she realized he was to shocked to say anything, she continued. “You’re lucky you know. The fire didn’t even touch it.”

 

He looked up at her and finally spoke. “Thank you, Paon.” He whispered. His voice still sounded rough, and she was sure her’s did too. But she was still able to hear what he said.

 

“What’s your name?” she asked him suddenly.

 

“Gabriel.” He responded. “Gabriel Agreste.”

 

“Well, Gabriel Agreste. You’re welcome.” She said. She started to walk away. The people of Paris would be okay for now- her job wasn’t to stop fires. It was to help the people. She took a few more steps before she stopped and turned around again. “Hey Gabriel!” she called out. The boy- Gabriel- looked up from his backpack and stared at her. “Try to stay out of trouble now.” She said. He looked surprised, and she laughed to herself at that. She gave him a salute and a smile, and then used her fans to bring her up to the rooftops.

 

As she jumped from rooftop to rooftop, she could hear the onlookers exclaim when the burning library finally collapsed behind her. She took a breath of clean air and realized she forgot to ask Gabriel what was in his bag that was so important.


	2. Chapter Two

When Emily untransformed in her bedroom half an hour later, her kwami immediately started lecturing her, just like she had anticipated she would.

 

“I tell you the same thing every time you put yourself in unnecessary danger, “ Her small blue kwami- Laurrel- started. “You need to be more responsible. I get that your just trying to help, but you need to learn to think before you act.” Laurrel stopped talking to take a bite of her apple. The red fruit was almost as big as she was, but she managed to carry it with her as she floated around in front of Emily.

 

“You know, you’re starting to sound a lot like a broken record.” Emily muttered under her breath. The kwami heard her anyways.

 

“I’ll stop repeating myself when you start listening to what I say.” Laurrel retorted. Emily rolled her eyes. It had been more than six months since she had gotten her miraculous and had met Laurrel, and she was still getting used to the fact that the tiny, innocent looking creature with big green eyes was actually very responsible and a little bit bossy.

 

“Well whatever. It doesn’t matter anymore.” Emily started before Laurrel could continue lecturing her. “I’m okay, you’re okay, Gabriel is okay, Paris is okay, and everyone is okay! No one got hurt, so we don’t need to do this again tonight.”

 

Laurrel looked like she wanted to say more, but Emily had visibly moved on. She walked over to her closet and started changing into her pajamas. It was already very late, and tomorrow Emily would have to wake up early for her first day of school.

 

Laurrel silently finished eating her apple while Emily finished changing. Once Emily was done getting dressed, she walked towards her bed and lay down in it. The small kwami settled herself in the pillow next to Emily’s head.

 

“Good night, Emily.” She said.

 

“Good night Laurrel.” Emily responded quietly. Before she could turn off the small lamp on the nightstand next to her, a soft tapping sound caught her attention.

 

Emily and Laurrel both looked questioningly at each other. The tapping sound started again, and this time both of them could pinpoint it’s location.

 

Both Emily and Laurrel turned their heads towards the door. Without saying a word, Laurrel flew off the pillow to go find a place to hide. Emily sighed, and reluctantly pushed herself up to a sitting position on the bed.

 

“Come in!” she called to the door. The door made a loud squeaking noise as the person on the other side pushed it open.

 

Standing in front of the door was a small girl with messy blonde hair and light green eyes. She wore green pajama pants and a blue pajama shirt with a peacock on it, and she held a small blanket in one hand.

 

Emily sighed in relief. It was just her little sister, Claire.

 

“I heard you come in.” She said quietly, not wanting to wake up their parents.

 

“What were you doing up so late?” Emily responded, gesturing for her little sister to come in. She closed the door and walked towards the bed.

 

“I heard you leaving, too.” She responded with a smile. She pushed herself up so she was sitting on the edge of Emily’s bed. “Mom came home when she heard there was a fire. She almost came to check on you, but I told her you were sleeping.”

 

Emily patted the spot next to her, and Claire scooted closer to her. “Well, thank you for covering for me, _mon mignon._ ” Emily ruffled her hair, and the little girl giggled. “Laurrel, its just Claire. You can come out now.”

 

Laurrel had warned her when she first became Paon that it was better to keep her identity a secret. Emily thought it made sense, considering how many fans she’s encountered who would probably camp out in front of her door if they had the chance. Also, there were dozens of journalists and news reporters who already followed her constantly as Paon. If they knew who she was outside of the mask, she wouldn’t get a moment of privacy. It wasn’t terribly hard to keep her superhero identity a secret; she only had a handful of people she was close to. But she did try to hide it at first.

 

About a month after she got her miraculous was when her sister Claire caught her. Claire was only seven years old, and their parents tend to work late. Sometimes Claire would get nightmares, or she would just miss their parents, and when she did she would go to Emily and spend the night with her.

 

Whenever she knew her parents would be working late, Emily tried to get home in time to be there for Claire. But that particular night, Paon caught two hooded figures trying to break into a store, and she had to stay with them while she waited for the police to show up. When she finally came home through her bedroom window, Claire was sitting on her bed- blanket in hand. There was no way to try and explain why the superhero Paon was breaking into Emily Buadin’s room. She had no choice but to come clean.

 

Claire did more than keep her secret for her. She helped Emily keep her secret from their family and friends, she covered for her whenever Paon had to go and save the people of Paris, and she even made sure that Laurrel always had a large stock of apples.

 

Laurrel came out from Emily’s closet and nestled herself in Claire’s hair. Claire giggled, and pet the kwami’s head.

 

Emily wasn’t too surprised to see Claire and Laurrel get along so well when she first introduced them to each other. Laurrel was very motherly. Which meant that even though she would sometimes nag Emily or give her long talks about responsibility, Laurrel also knew how get along great with kids.

 

“You were at the fire, weren’t you?” Claire asked.

 

Emily nodded. Claire settled into the bed and stared at her, waiting for her to continue. So Emily told her about the fire. She made sure to tell the story in a way that wouldn’t worry Claire. She told her about the people who cheered for Paon, and about the strange boy who Paon rescued from the center of the fire. Claire listened to the story silently, picturing the events in her head.

 

Emily knew that her story would excite Claire, so she spoke softly. It was late, and even though Claire usually was bursting with energy, tonight she was visibly exhausted. Laurrel was no longer nestled in the girl’s hair. She had removed herself at some point in the story and fell asleep on the pillow between the two sisters.

 

By the time Emily finished her story, Claire had fallen asleep with her blanket clutched in her hands. Emily pulled the blanket from her loose grip and placed it over her, then turned the light on her nightstand off.

 

She barely had time to think about school starting before she fell asleep herself.

 

* * *

 

Both of Emily’s parents had jobs that required them to move around a lot. Because of that, Emily was used to changing schools almost every year. First day’s of school usually meant a completely fresh start for Emily.

 

Because of that, she also never had any serious friendships. Sure, she always made friends with a few people from whatever school she was in, but they were never serious. Once Emily moved on to a new school, It was as if the old people never even existed.

 

The longest she had ever stayed in one place was her last school. She started her first year of _lycée_ there and stayed for three years. She had met her best friend, Adrianne, there. Emily had thought that since she only had one more year left, she would be able to finish _lycèe_ in the same place she started.

 

She knew she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up.

 

But there were two major differences between this move and every other move in her life: the first being Adrianne, and the second being Laurrel.

 

Even after spending a whole summer away from each other, Emily and Adrianne were as close as sisters. She was the first friend Emily had who made an effort to stay friends even after Emily was forced to move and change schools.

 

Laurrel was the second difference. Emily still wasn’t sure how the small brown box containing the peacock broach found its way into her backpack all those months ago, and whenever she would ask Laurrel the kwami would simply say “You’ll understand when the time comes.” However it happened, she was glad it did. Becoming Paon was the best thing that ever happened to her.

 

Emily might have to start a new year of school in an unfamiliar place, but this year she wasn’t alone. This year, she had two new friends to support her.

 

Standing in front of the _lycée_ with Laurrel in her purse and her broach placed on her shirt, Emily knew she shouldn’t be nervous.

 

So why was she?

 

Laurrel poked her head out of Emily’s purse. “Hey.” She said. Emily looked down at the small kwami. Laurrel looked around to make sure there was no one around, and flew out of the purse and in front of the girls face.

 

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Emily nervously fiddled with her miraculous broach. When she was transformed, the broach was much shinier and more colorful. But while it was inactive, it was a dull blue color that made it much more inconspicuous.

 

“I know I shouldn’t be nervous,” Emily started. “I know that I’ve done this a bunch of times before, and this should be no different. Especially now that I’m Paon. I should be even _more_ confident. I don’t know why this time it seems so much harder.”

 

Laurrel sighed softly. “Oh Emily, just because your Paon, doesn’t mean you have to be fearless all the time. You’re allowed to be nervous and afraid. And I may not have been there to see all the other times, but I’m still sure that you’ll do great. You’ll make friends, I’m sure!”

 

Emily nodded and too a deep breathe. “You’re right, it’ll be fine.” She responded. Laurrel patted her check affectionately before returning to the purse. “I can do this.” Emily repeated to herself once more.

 

She walked towards the building. The moment she entered, she felt like she had transported into a whole new world. Students and teachers surrounded her, talking and laughing and walking in every direction. Emily took another breath to calm her nerves, and then went to pull her schedule out of her bag.

 

She navigated her way to her homeroom classroom. While walking through the hallways, she noticed something strange about the way the people around her walked. She was sure at first that it was her imagination, but the longer she walked the more she noticed it.

 

At her old _lycée,_ she had to twist and turn through the halls in order to avoid running into other students. That’s just how school was- everyone had somewhere to be and made an effort to avoid each other. You couldn’t just walk in a straight line down the hallway without bumping into someone. But as Emily made her way through the school, she realized that people seemed to be almost _avoiding_ her.

 

Well, avoiding wasn’t exactly the right word. The people around her didn’t seem to be purposefully staying away from her as she walked. It was more like they were subconsciously making a path for her.

 

Once Emily finally realized _what_ was happening, it didn’t take very long for her to put the pieces together and figure out _why_ it was happening. There was only one obvious answer- Paon.

 

Laurrel had explained a lot to Emily about her powers. She answered most of her questions- with the exception of how she got her miraculous. But she only briefly told her about how her miraculous would affect her outside of the suit. She warned her that it was different for every miraculous user, and that it would happen after a long period of time. But other than that, Emily didn’t know what to expect.

 

But walking through the hallway, she was sure that Paon was the only explanation. The students around her parted for her the same way civilians parted for Paon without a second thought.

 

She tried to conceal a smile while she fiddled with her broach.

 

After a few minutes of walking, she finally found her homeroom class. Inside, most of the students had already arrived and were spread out at the desks, and the teacher was writing her name on the chalkboard at the front of the room.

 

Looking around, there seemed to be only one empty desk available- and it was in the front. Emily sat on the right side of the desk, leaving the spot next to her empty. She gently placed her bag next to her just as the bell rang.

 

“Good morning class!” Said the teacher. “My name is Mrs. Vivona, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the school year. First, I’m going to take attendance, and then I’ll explain what you will be doing in my classroom.” She went to get her attendance sheet from her desk, and Emily took her bag off the floor and placed it in her lap.

 

She opened the bag and saw Laurrel was asleep. She sighed. Emily really wanted to confirm her suspicions with the kwami, but it would have to wait until Laurrel woke up.

 

But Laurrel had made it seem like this was supposed to be a big milestone in her life. Emily was debating weather or not she should wake her up and ask when the door slammed open. A boy stood in the center of the classroom panting as if he had ran to class.

 

“You’re late.” Said Mrs. Vivona. The boy had his hands on his knees, bent over and catching his breath. A few kids behind Emily sniggered, and he glanced over as if he had heard them. Embarrassed, he rose from his hunched position and stood up straight, as if he had been perfectly composed the entire time.

 

“Sorry, it won’t happen again.” He responded. The teacher nodded, and pointed at the spot next to Emily.

 

“You can take that seat, in the front.” She told him. He nodded and sat down in the chair next to Emily.

 

Emily hadn’t been paying attention to the boy: she was still questioning weather or not she should wake up Laurrel. But when he put his backpack on the desk in front of him, she hastily hid Laurrel and put her bag away. Mrs. Vivona cleared her throat, preparing to start calling names, and Emily turned her focus to the front of the classroom.

 

In the corner of her eye, Emily saw the backpack that the boy had placed on their desk. It was a deep purple color that looked all too familiar to Emily. Before she could try to remember where she had seen that shade of purple before, the teacher called out the first name.

 

“Gabriel Agreste?” She called.

 

“Here!” Responded the boy sitting next to her.

 

 _Oh._ Thought Emily.

 

She turned to face the boy so quickly she almost gave herself whiplash. There he was, sitting right next to her without her even noticing. Gabriel Agreste.

 

The boy she saved from the fire just the day before, the boy who asked her to go back into a burning building for a backpack.

 

And there, on the desk, was the very backpack that she had risked her life to save. It had a gray tint to it- probably from all the ash- but other than that it was obvious that it was the same backpack from the fire.

 

She couldn’t stop staring at it. She couldn’t stop staring at _him_. It seemed like the most impossible coincidence that _Gabriel Agreste_ was sitting next to her in homeroom.

 

Emily would have stared longer. She would have stared at him the whole period if she could. But then her name was called, and she snapped out her shock and responded with “Here!”

Gabriel glanced at her for a moment, and Emily’s heart stopped. _What if he recognizes me? What if he looks at me and realizes that I’m Paon? What if…_

 

He turned back to the teacher, and Emily realized that there was no way he could recognize her. Her transformation didn’t just give her a mask- it also came with a glamour. Her own mother couldn’t tell that she was Paon- why would some guy who she had met once figure out her secret?

 

She sighed in her seat and allowed herself to look at him from the corner of her eye. This was going to be a long period.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait for this chapter! Schools over now so I can hopefully update faster. Also, thank you to everyone who commented or left kudos! 
> 
> I don't know much about how the french school system works, so sorry if there are any inaccuracies.

Emily desperately wanted to wake up Laurrel. She knew she was panicking, and that there really was no reason to panic. Which was why she was fighting the urge to open up her purse and wake her kwami up from her nap. 

She wasn’t even sure what Mrs. Vivona was saying. She was vaguely aware of the fact that her teacher was talking, but the words coming out of her mouth weren’t registering in Emily’s brain. It probably wasn’t too important since she could see that next to her, Gabriel hadn’t taken anything out of his backpack. But Emily was too freaked out to do anything but sit there and watch him from the corner of her eye. 

Of all the things that could have happened to her today, she was sitting next to Gabriel Agreste. Gabriel Agreste and his stupid purple backpack.

She wished Laurrel could calm her down right now. But even if she were awake, Emily couldn’t exactly talk to her without people noticing and possibly giving her weird looks. For now, she was on her own.

Why was she even so nervous? If he were going to figure her out, he would have done it by now. She was a superhero: This lanky teenage boy couldn’t possibly be making her this nervous. Then why am I feeling so anxious right now?

She decided it must be shock. Of course she was feeling shocked; what were the chances that of all the people she could have seen today at her new school, the strange boy from last night ended up sitting right next to her? What were the chances that she would ever see that purple backpack ever again?

But shock wasn’t the only thing. Looking at Gabriel’s bag from the corner of her eye, she realized that what she felt was something almost like excitement. 

After the fire, the grateful look Gabriel had given her when she returned his bag to him distracted her. And the adrenaline rush that Paon felt while saving Gabriel’s bag made her rush away from the scene the moment she completed her duty. But when she got home, she realized that she forgot to ask him a question.

What was even in the bag that was so important?

The question had been burning through her mind all night and even this morning. She almost never left crime scenes without getting some explanation from an authority figure. And last night, she had lots of questions about the cause of the fire and the contents of the bag. She had been frustrated at herself for leaving so soon. 

But here he was. Sitting right next to her was her second chance. 

Now Emily could get all the answers she wanted. But how?

Coming up with a plan was the hard part.

Somehow, she had to figure out a way to look through a complete (as far as he knew) strangers backpack without getting caught or looking suspicious. She couldn’t do it now, while he was right there, but this homeroom period may be the only time she will see him all day. Maybe if he had to leave class to go to the bathroom or something, she could take a quick peek into the bag without even disturbing the contents of it. No, that wouldn’t work. She was sitting in the front row, right in front of the teacher, who would probably notice if she went through someone else’s stuff. And besides, how would she even manage to get him to leave the classroom? She had to come up with a better plan than that-

“-Now if everyone would take out some scratch paper and something to write with, we can get started!” Announced Mrs. Vivona, interrupting Emily from her thoughts. 

Around her, Emily heard the unzipping of backpacks and the shuffling of papers as everyone got out pens and paper. She was about to reach down herself and get some stuff from her own backpack when she noticed Gabriel pull his own bag closer to him and open it up. 

Emily froze. This could be her only chance to see the inside of his bag and get the answers she so desperately wanted. Trying to look as casual as possible, she leaned back in her seat and subtly shifted herself so she could get a better view of the inside. 

Gabriel’s hands were pulling open the flap and reaching into the backpack. She could see some books, a binder, some folders and other school supplies. But the more he moved things around, the faster her heart pounded. 

What could have possibly been in there that made this boy try to run back into a burning building without hesitation? Could it be money? No, the bag wasn’t very heavy. Maybe he had a living creature in there? I mean, it’s not impossible; there could have been a hamster or something small enough to-

Gabriel’s hands were still in his bag, but it took Emily a moment to realize he had stopped moving them. She realized she had been staring at his hands, and she could feel his stare on her.

She was almost too afraid to turn and look at him, but she made herself do it anyways.

Last night, Paon had a goal that took up all her focus; first, getting Gabriel Agreste out of the library alive, and then getting his purple backpack out while keeping herself alive. Last night, she didn’t have the time nor could she afford to pay attention to unnecessary things like the way Gabriel looked. 

Now, she paid attention.

She remembered his hair being pale, but she thought that the smoke had been playing tricks on her eyes. Emily was surprised to see that his hair was in fact a very strange shade of platinum blonde that would have looked unnatural and awkward on any other teenage boy that wasn’t him. Somehow, the strange hair color and even stranger spiky haircut he was wearing suited him. In fact, his hair paired with his deep, blue eyes and extremely put together outfit made him look handsome. 

Did I just say he was handsome? Oh my gosh, stop staring Emily and say something!

“Do you need something?” he asked, looking at Emily.

“Um,” she responded smartly. Behind her, she heard the sound of someone tearing out a piece of paper from a notebook, giving her an idea. “Yeah, actually. Can I borrow a piece of paper? I don’t have any with me.” 

“You forgot paper on your first day of school?” he asked curiously. But he didn’t wait for an answer before he reached into his bag once more and looked for a piece of paper. Emily quietly observed, but was disappointed when he handed her a sheet of lined paper before she could see anything noteworthy in the bag. 

“Thanks.” She said, giving him one of her famous Paon smiles. When she realized what she had done, her heart stopped. What is wrong with me? She thought. I see one handsome boy and I throw my secret identity to the wind. But he didn’t seem to notice, and when he smiled back at her she sighed in relief. 

The teacher was writing something on the board, and Emily watched her, pretending she was paying attention. The lined paper was flat on her desk as she stared unfocused in front of her.

Forcing herself to keep her eyes on the teacher was hard. Every few seconds, she had to stop herself from turning her head to look at the boy or his backpack. Every part of her was screaming at her to just look at him. Her curiosity was killing her, and it was all she could do to not pick up his backpack and go through it for herself. 

After what felt like hours, but couldn’t have possibly been more than a minute, she heard Gabriel clear his throat next to her. Emily forced herself to not turn and look at him. Instead, she turned her head to look at the wall clock, where she saw that only ten minutes of class had passed. Emily shifted anxiously in her seat. 

Laurrel better be enjoying her nap right now, Emily thought. Because during lunch, I’m going for a run as Paon.

Gabriel quietly cleared his throat again, and Emily fidgeted with her peacock broach. After the third time, she couldn’t take it anymore. She was too restless to hold herself back. 

She turned her head to look at him, and was surprised to see that he was staring right at her, almost as if he was waiting for her to look at him. 

Almost as if he was trying to get her attention. 

Gabriel glanced at the teacher, making sure that she wasn’t looking at them, and then leaned towards Emily.

For a moment, Emily felt herself start to panic again. He knows! He knows! Her mind screamed. Stop jumping to conclusions. She told herself. 

“Hey, are you gonna write anything down?” he asked.

Of course she would forget to do something as crucial as take out a pencil. Emily realized that she was terrible at acting. 

“Oh, right of course!” she responded, her voice just a little too loud. The teacher gave her a look, but turned back to the board after a moment. Next to her, Emily heard a faint sound, what sounded almost like someone was laughing. But when she turned back to Gabriel, his face had a neutral expression and he was staring straight ahead. 

Throughout the rest of the class period, Emily did her best to try and listen to Mrs. Vivona. She copied down everything the teacher wrote, not really paying attention to the words on her paper. Sometimes her curiosity got to her, and she momentarily glanced at Gabriel.

When the bell finally rang, Emily jumped in her seat. The noise made her realize she had zoned out for the entire class period. 

An entire class period wasted without any answers.

Around her, students started to pack up their bags and head for their second period classes. Emily opened her own bag and checked on Laurrel. The small kwami was still sleeping, so she closed her bag without disturbing her. 

As she walked out of the classroom, she silently decided that she would transform into Paon and spend her lunch hour at the police station. She might not have been able to get her answers to what was in the bag, but she wasn’t going home without some sort of information. She still had lots of questions that had nothing to do with Gabriel. Like how did the fire start? And what happened afterwards? 

As Emily stepped outside of the classroom, she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

“Hey, wait up!” said a voice from behind her. She turned around to face the voice, and was surprised to see that it was Gabriel who was stopping her. 

“Oh, um hello.” She replied in a shockingly calm voice. 

“You got a lot on your mind?” asked Gabriel. He removed his hand from Emily’s shoulder, and Emily mentally scolded herself for being disappointed. 

“Um, not really.” She lied. Just trying to look through your backpack so I can figure out why you made me run into a burning building last night! You know, the usual! “Why do you ask?”

Without saying a word, he brought his hand up so that it was right in front of her face. His hand was clenched, and he was holding a pencil and a blank lined piece of paper. Why is this boy waving around a piece of paper in my face? What does that have to do with-

Oh, right.

She really wasn’t good at acting. 

Emily smiled sheepishly as she took the paper and pencil from his hand. His face appeared neutral at first, but Emily could see the signs of amusement in the way he raised his eyebrows at her or gave her a small smirk. 

“Thanks, I can’t believe I forgot my notes!” she told him. “That would have been a disaster! What would I have done without them, right?” 

“Oh yeah totally. There’s no way you would have been able to complete the homework without that blank sheet of paper you have.”

She quickly checked both sides of the paper in her hand to confirm that it was in fact completely bank. She hadn’t written down a single thing. What’s worse was that Gabriel noticed.

She groaned loudly. “I’m such an idiot.” He laughed quietly, like he was trying not to offend her. Why did she become such a mess whenever she hit a minor bump in the road?  
“If you want, I can let you copy my notes.” Gabriel said. His hand was scratching behind his neck, almost as if he were nervous. 

“Yes! Thank you so much, that would be great!” He smiled at her, while fiddling with the strap of his backpack. 

His backpack. 

All of a sudden, Emily remembered why she had been so distracted all day. His dark purple backpack had been just lying there on their shared desk, taunting her the entire class period. Her curiosity burned, and she knew that there was no way she could just move on with her life without getting answers to her questions. 

An idea formed in her mind. If she met with him to get his notes, maybe she could finally get a peek inside his backpack. Or even better, if she befriended him he would just outright tell her everything about the night of the fire! 

With her new plan in mind, it was all Emily could do to suppress her grin. 

“What’s your name?” he asked her. 

“I’m Emily. Emily Baudin. What about you?” she responded, as if she didn’t know already.

“Gabriel Agreste.”

“Well nice to meet you, Gabriel Agreste. So when and where do you want to meet?”

“We can meet at the café across the street during lunch? Is that alright with you?”

“That’s fine with me. I’ll see you then.” She responded, only half focusing on the conversation and half thinking about the dark purple backpack. 

The warning bell rang, snapping her out of her daze. She gave him her Paon smile and headed in the opposite direction of the classroom.

After about one minute of walking, she noticed that her second period was right next to her homeroom, and that she had to walk back.

After another minute, she realized that she would have to wait and go to the police station after school. This was the second time in 24 hours that Gabriel Agreste unintentionally distracted her when she was trying to get answers. 

There was no way she would let there be a third time. She promised herself that she would figure what was so special about that stupid purple backpack before the week was up.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sort of a flash back, just in case that wasn't clear.

 

Six months ago, there were no superheroes in Paris. There was no Paon; no girl dressed like a peacock and fighting crime in the middle of the night. There was no girl who jumped from rooftop to rooftop, seemingly flying. There was no girl whose presence gave everyone around her hope. 

 

Six months ago, there was only Emily Baudin- a seventeen-year-old girl with a fierce heart who stood up for others and made rash decisions. 

 

Before she even knew what a miraculous was, Emily thought that her life was very predictable. Her parents both had jobs that kept them away from home until late, so most days she would go to school, spend the day taking care of her little sister Claire, and waiting until either her parents showed up or until Claire fell asleep to go spend some time alone.

 

Every two or three years her parents would need to move to a different city for work, and Emily and Claire were forced to start their lives over again. Every time was the same: Emily would get used to her teachers and classes, she would make a friend or two, and she would finally develop a routine for herself. Then, once again they had to move to a new city and start all over. By the time she was in _lycée_ she learned not to get too comfortable wherever she was.

 

Whatever free time she had she spent outside. It didn’t matter to her weather she lived in the city or the countryside- weather she was surrounded by tall buildings and lights or empty fields that went on forever- just being outside made her feel like she was free.

 

Usually when her parents announced the move, she would be disappointed but not surprised. But now, at seventeen years old and almost finished with _lycée_ , this time was different. They had been living just outside of Paris for a little over three years. Emily spent all of her _lycée_ years here. She had met Adrienne here, a kind and adventurous girl who was her best friend and practically her sister.

 

They weren’t even moving very far- Paris was a bus ride away. It was just far enough that she would have to go to a brand new school for her final year of _lycée._ Just far enough that she would have to start the cycle all over again.

But there was nothing she could do about it. It was completely out of her control.

 

That was almost the worst part.

 

The morning her parents told her was a school day. She wasn’t sure why they told her then and not later, since she didn’t even have time to register the news before she had to go to class. They probably knew that what they were telling her was something she would try and go against. They probably knew how much she would fight to try and convince them to stay. And they would have been right: Emily could be extremely stubborn and relentless when she wanted to be. They probably thought telling her and sending her to school immediately would be enough of a distraction to calm her down once she faced her parents again.

 

They were wrong about that part, though.

 

All day, she couldn’t focus on what the teachers were saying. Adrienne noticed she was off and had tried to ask her what was wrong, but Emily couldn’t bring herself to tell her. Saying it out loud would have made it real. When lunchtime came around, she didn’t go to Adrienne’s house like she usually did.

 

After school, she didn’t go home like she normally would have. Instead, she took a bus and went to Paris. It was an impulsive decision, but almost everything she did was impulsive. She didn’t tell anyone she was going, and she didn’t go back home and leave a note to someone. She didn’t even drop off her heavy backpack, which she almost immediately regretted since she had her textbooks in it. It wasn’t until much later on that she realized that what she did was pretty reckless, but she couldn’t find it in her to care.

 

Emily took the bus to Paris, and then switched buses until she got to the Eiffel Tower. She wandered aimlessly around the area, enjoying the feeling of being outside and letting the air clear her head. She had been to Paris a few times before, but had never lived there. It was much louder and more crowded than where she currently lived because of all the tourists, but she didn’t mind. In fact, she lived how alive the city felt.

 

She spent most of the day walking around and sightseeing. Eventually, she got tired of lugging all her textbooks around, and she found a small café that she sat down in and just watched the crowds of people.

 

It wasn’t until much later, when she had left the café and started walking again that she felt a drop of rain hit her and decided it was probably time to start making her way back home. Spending the day by herself helped her calm down, and even though she still didn’t want to leave her friends and her school behind, she didn’t feel as emotional as she had that morning.

 

She looked up at the sky just as another raindrop hit her nose. Over the span of a minute, the single drop turned into a light and consistent rain.

 

Currently, she was no longer in the heart of all the tourist attractions in Paris. Looking around her, Emily saw that she was in a deserted street filled with small shops that had closed for the day. She must have been too caught up in her thoughts to realize she was walking away from the main part of the city. She readjusted her backpack on her slightly sore shoulder and started to turn around.

 

That was when she heard the voice that stopped her dead in her tracks.

 

The voice wasn’t very loud, as if the person speaking was far away from her. But it was still loud enough to clearly hear what it said.

 

“Turn around and give me your money!”

 

Emily’s heart stopped. Slowly, she turned around until she had made a complete one-eighty, only to see that there was no one there. For a moment confusion overpowered fear, and she kept turning until she had come full circle.

 

She wasn’t the one being mugged. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

 

But she was still alone in the middle of an empty street with a mugger on the loose. Her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest and the rain was pouring down on her. She quietly took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves, but other than that made no other noise.

 

A few moments passed, but it felt like years. The only other sounds were of the raindrops hitting the pavement. After what felt like a lifetime, she heard the voice again.

 

“Did you not hear me, old man? I said give me your money!”

 

 _Old man?_ Hearing the voice for the second time confirmed that she didn’t imagine it. After hearing it again, she realized the mugger couldn’t have been more than thirty feet away from her. She looked around again to reassure herself that the mugger wasn’t on her street. He might not be visible to her, but he was definitely close.

 

Once again, she heard a voice. But this time, it didn’t come from the mugger. This was a different person, whose voice was softer and slower.

This must have been the old man that was being mugged.

 

“Now, sir. Let’s just relax. You don’t have to do this; I’m just a poor old man. I’m not trying to hurt anyone.”

 

This time, Emily could pinpoint where the voice was coming from. Just ten feet away, was a gap between two little shops that she didn’t notice until now. It must have been an alley. In the back of her mind, Emily thought it was pretty ironic that someone was being mugged in a dark alley in the middle of nowhere. She always though situations like this would be stereotypical, but obviously it happened more than she realized.

 

She slowly walked forward towards the alley. She knew that she needed to help the poor old man who was getting mugged, but she had no idea what she should do to help. There were no pay phones on the street she was in, so she couldn’t call the police. And by the time she found a payphone, it would probably be too late.

 

 _Maybe I can distract the mugger and buy the old man time to run away…_ Emily thought to herself. Because she could tell that the old man wasn’t planning on giving anyone his money. Getting him away from the mugger might be her only option. _It probably won’t be too hard; he didn’t even seem that scared._ From what Emily had heard so far, the old man sounded pretty brave. In fact, he didn’t sound nervous at all; when he spoke to the mugger, his voice was steady and patient, as if he genuinely believed that he could convince the mugger not to rob him.

 

Emily made up her mind. She had to help him.

 

She kept on slowly inching her way closer to the alley. The two were just around the corner, out of sight but close enough to be heard clearly. The rain kept pouring down on her. It made her long, blonde hair stick uncomfortably to her skin, and she distractedly pushed some it behind her ear.

 

“Shut up! Don’t you see my knife? I could kill you! Just give me the money and I’ll let you go.” Yelled the mugger, sounding more emotional than his victim.

 

“Calm down, you don’t want to do this.” Replied the old man, his voice so steady it almost seemed like a warning.

 

 _What kind of person takes advantage of an old man like this?_ Emily wondered.

 

Emily stopped right before going into the alley. She quietly removed her backpack from her shoulders and pulled her thickest textbook out. Closing the backpack so its contents don’t get wet, she placed it on the ground at her feet but kept the textbook in her hands and held it out in front of her like a shield.

 

“Here goes nothing.” She muttered to herself encouragingly. She took one last breath to try and stop her hands from shaking, but it didn’t work.

 

She turned the corner and looked into the alley. The mugger, a guy barely taller than Emily and wearing a black hoodie, stood with his back facing her. He held a scary looking knife in his hand and was pointing it at the old man in front of him.

 

But the old man hardly seemed fazed. He held a cane in his hand, and casually leaned against it, as if he was just having a conversation with a friend. When he saw Emily, he made eye contact with her for a second before quickly turning his gaze back to the mugger.

 

But the second was enough. The mugger notice him looking away, and started turning his head towards Emily.

 

Emily knew she couldn’t hesitate. Before he fully turned, she made her move. She knew that a seventeen-year-old girl dripping wet in her school uniform must not have looked very menacing. And the textbook she gripped in her hands didn’t seem like much against the mugger’s fancy knife. But in that moment, Emily didn’t care. The only thing she could think of was defending the old man.

 

All her adrenaline and her anger at the mugger for threatening the old man’s life hit her at once. He barely had time to say “Hey!” before she swung her textbook at him with all the force she had.

 

She may not have been thinking clearly, but her instincts made up for that. She aimed the textbook for his head, and the blow was enough to knock him out. He fell face down onto the ground, his knife falling out of his hands and clattering on to the ground away from him.

 

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then, hesitantly, Emily bent down to the floor and checked his pulse. She sighed in relief when she felt it. “He’s alive.” She said out loud.

 

The rain kept pounding down on them, as if nothing had happened. As if the world was the same as it was five minutes ago. As if Emily didn’t just save someone’s life without even thinking about it.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked the old man while standing up again. He stood there, leaning on his cane and watching her. She looked into his eyes and didn’t see a hint of fear.

 

Without responding, he slowly walked over to her. Once he was in front of her, he bent down and picked up her textbook from the ground. She hadn’t even realized she had dropped it. When he handed it to her, she could see that his hands were perfectly still while hers were still shaking. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she wasn’t shaking from fear; she might have been afraid at first, but not anymore. Now, she felt like she was high on adrenaline and the thrill of what she had just done.

 

The textbook was in much worse condition than the mugger. The hard cover did nothing to protect the pages from the pouring rain. She didn’t dare open it, knowing that if she did the wet, flimsy pages would tear and the ink would start to run. Even if there was any hope of fixing the book, by the time she went home, the damage would be irreversible. Right on the center of the blue cover was a dark drop of blood, smeared from the rain.

 

Later on, she would worry about the damage. For now, the only thing she could focus on was her excitement at taking down the mugger.

 

The man watched her for a moment longer, and then finally spoke. “Are _you_ okay?” he asked, turning her question back on her.

 

“Am I okay? Of course I’m okay! I just saved you from that mugger I _knocked out_ that mugger with a history textbook! That was so cool!” He gave her an amused look. “ I mean, I’m not trying to brag or anything,” she corrected herself. “I didn’t mean it like that, I’m just- I’m just still really pumped on adrenaline and this may have been the coolest thing I’ve ever done! But that’s not important, are you sure you’re okay sir?”

 

The old man chuckled. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I had the situation under control, you know. I could have taken him down if you hadn’t come” he responded.

 

Emily laughed, assuming that he was joking. But when he kept staring at her, she realized he was being serious. “Oh, of course sir. Sorry.” She quickly said.

 

“You don’t believe me,” he said. But he didn’t phrase it as a question; he said it like it was a fact. Before she could object, he continued. “It’s alright, why would you? I get it; I’m old. It’s not my job to be a hero anymore.”

 

Emily wasn’t sure weather he was talking to her or to himself. She felt bad for laughing, but the way he talked made it seem like he wasn’t angry or sad. It was more like he was remembering something. Emily wasn’t sure how she was supposed to respond to him.

 

“I have to ask,” he abruptly changed the subject. “How did you know that the mugger’s back was turned from you? You looked at me for barely a second before you came charging in.”

 

Although Emily thought it was an unusual question, she responded truthfully. “I didn’t.”

 

“You didn’t know his back was turned?”

 

“No. Why?”

 

“You just came running in, even though he had a knife?”

 

“Um, yes.” She didn’t appreciate that he was interrogating her. She already got lectures from her parents and friends and teachers about being reckless, she didn’t need to hear it from a random stranger. Besides, it didn’t matter anymore. She had saved him, hadn’t she? That should have been all that mattered.

 

“Well, what if something happened? What was your backup plan?”

 

Emily hesitated before responding. “I didn’t have one.”

 

“What if you had gotten hurt? Did you at least call the police before you took down the mugger?”

 

“You needed help, there wasn’t any time.”

 

The old man looked at her for a moment more before bursting out laughing. Emily may have been surprised that a stranger was acting like her mother and lecturing her on safety, but his sudden laughter completely caught her off guard.

 

“I’m sorry, it’s just you reminded me of someone who would have had a heart attack if she heard your story!” he took a deep breath and continued. “Although, considering you just saved my life, I think she would have liked you a lot. What was your name dear?”

 

“It’s Emily. Emily Baudin.” She answered. The old man seemed a little strange at times, but Emily decided that she liked him. It bothered her when people always tried to control her actions, but when he asked her questions, there was no force in them.

 

“Well Emily Baudin, it was a pleasure to meet you. Even though the circumstances weren’t the best.” He glanced at the mugger, still lying on the floor unconscious. “It’s getting late, and I must be getting home now and so should you. But I suggest you call the police first, and let them know that this man is here.”

 

He gave her a small smile before turning and walking out the alley.

 

“Wait, sir!” Emily said. “What’s your name?”

 

He turned to her and said, “Call me Fu.”

 

She watched him walk off before she left the alley herself. She picked up her backpack from where she had left it, and started walking towards the direction she had come from.

 

* * *

 

By the time she came back home, it was late. Her parents were not as angry as she had anticipated they would be, but she assumed it was because they knew why she didn’t want to come home that day. After yelling at her about how she can’t just ‘run off whenever she wanted’ or how she ‘needed to let someone know where she was next time’, they finally decided to only ground her for a week.

 

When Emily showed them the textbook, they added another week to her punishment. The textbook couldn’t be saved. Emily’s parents took one look at it and knew that they would have to pay for the damages.

 

Emily wasn’t able to get away from them until Claire came downstairs from her room and asked their mom to read her a bedtime story. She knew for a fact that Claire only distracted their parents for Emily’s sake. Sometimes she thought that her seven-year-old sister knew her better than her parents did.

 

Once she was finally alone in her room, she felt her exhaustion hit her. The excitement of the day was finally starting to wear off. She quickly changed into her pajamas and got ready for bed. The only thing she could think about was sleeping in her big, warm bed. But she knew she had to assess the damage of the contents in her backpack.

 

When she picked her backpack off of the floor, she could feel that it was still wet. The rain had stopped by the time she called the police, so the backpack had the entire bus ride to dry off. She opened it and dumped its contents onto her bed. Her binder, notebooks, pens, and loose papers were spread out on her bed. The binder was almost perfectly okay, her notebooks were wet on the edges, and her black pen had been uncapped and got ink on some of her homework assignments. She groaned, before continuing her inspection.

 

Once she had finished going through her backpack, she started dividing the usable objects from the ones she would have to throw away. It wasn’t until she moved one of her notebooks that she saw the box.

 

It was small, brown, and in the shape of a hexagon. There was some sort of drawing on the top, one she had never seen before.

 

Emily knew this wasn’t her box. She had no idea how it even got into her backpack, or how she didn’t notice it before. How long was it in there? Did Adrienne leave it for her at school today? She had no idea why Adrienne would leave this in her backpack without telling her.

 

She could stand there all night guessing where it came from, or she could open it and figure out what was inside it. So she opened it.

 

She didn’t know what she was expecting to be inside it. It was so small, its contents couldn’t have been larger than a pair of earrings or maybe a ring. What she didn’t expect was the blinding white light that appeared once she opened it.

 

Emily turned her head away. The light made it impossible to even keep her eyes open. But after a few seconds, it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

 

Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned her head back to the mysterious box. Floating in front of her was the strangest creature she had ever seen. It almost resembled a peacock, with its tail feathers and dark blue skin, but it couldn’t have been bigger than a hamster.

 

She silently watched as the creature opened its eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to move or to say anything. She could only stare at it in fascination.

 

The creature made eye contact with her, and gave her a gentle smile. “Hello Emily,” it started. “Do not be afraid. My name is Laurrel, and I’m a kwami.”

 

Emily had lots of questions, but she didn’t ask any of them. “I’m not afraid.”


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has it really been 8 months since I updated? Wow...

Emily had to say that stealing the walkie-talkie had been a great idea.

 

The idea had never even occurred to her before. If it hadn’t been for Adrienne, she probably would never have thought about it. On Tuesday, Emily’s second day of school, Adrienne had made the trip to Paris to visit her. Adrienne was a very talkative person, and didn’t let Emily hold out on any details of her life so far. She had been living in Paris for four months already, and Adrienne wanted to know _everything._

 

One topic of conversation was about Paon. According to Adrienne, people who lived in France but not in Paris had heard of her, but weren’t convinced she was real. Non-Parisians may have seen her on the news and in the papers, but apparently that wasn’t enough to convince most of them.

 

“A lot of people think she’s a publicity stunt or something.” Explained Adrienne. “They think Parisians made her up to get more tourists to come, as if there aren’t already enough tourists! Do you know how many Americans I had to get past to get to your house?”

 

Emily had to admit that if she wasn’t Paon, and she was still living outside of Paris like Adrienne, she would have some difficulty believing that there was a girl running around Paris dressed like a peacock and fighting crime.

 

Adrienne, unlike most non-Parisians, was a huge fan of Paon. She wanted Emily to tell her everything she knew about the superhero. She would bombard her with questions and then gush about how cool Paon seemed and how ironic it was that Emily moved to Paris just weeks before Paon first made an appearance. Emily was overwhelmed trying to answer all her friends’ questions while keeping her identity a secret.

 

“How does Paon know when something’s happening?” she asked Emily. “From what I heard, she appears so quickly to the scene of a crime that it’s almost like she has a sense for it or something. Can she just tell? Do the police contact her whenever someone calls 112? And if they do call her, how would they if they don’t know her identity? Does she just have a walkie-talkie?”

 

One question spiraled into a dozen more, but Emily was too caught up in her thoughts to respond. The reason she always showed up so quickly was because she spent so much free time outside. Before school started, if she wasn’t taking care of her sister or seeing Adrienne, she was walking through the crowded streets of Paris. Being in a public area for so much of her time made it easier to find out if something was happening.

 

But there was no way she was going to tell all that to Adrienne, so she just let her talkative blonde friend tire herself out with all her wild theories.

 

But hearing her mention the idea of walkie-talkies surprised her. Mostly, it surprised her that she spent six months as Paon, and she hadn’t thought of that sooner.

 

Even after Adrienne left Paris that night, Emily couldn’t stop thinking about her words. She knew that it was a great idea, and it would be much more convenient for her now that school started and she can’t spend every possible second out in the streets.

 

The only problem was that she doubted the police would just hand her one if she asked for it. They respected her because she was saving lives and because her miraculous had a strong effect on them. But that’s where their support for her ended. They may have worked with her whenever she showed, but they were always complaining that she should just ‘let them do their job.’

 

Normally, she wouldn’t let something like _permission_ stop her from getting what she wanted, especially if it was for a good cause. But Laurrel would have a fit if she tried to steal a police officers walkie-talkie. Laurrel was all about following the rules and thinking things through, and in the six months they’ve been together, she had stopped Emily from making rash and reckless decisions a number of times.

 

Emily knew that if she wanted a walkie-talkie, she would have to ask for Laurrel’s forgiveness, not her permission.

 

Nothing she wasn’t used to.

 

The next day, during her schools lunch break, she decided to go to the station. Laurrel had been in her bag when Adrienne first mentioned the idea, but Emily made sure not to mention it after she left, so Laurrel had no idea what she was planning. She had already wanted to go to the station before to talk to the police officers about the fire from a few days ago. So Laurrel wasn’t suspicious whatsoever when she asked her to transform.

 

She transformed in an alley nearby her school, then made her way to the station via rooftops. When she got there, she saw the bald officer from the fire at the library.

 

She tried to get as much information from him as she could. He told her that the fire was still under investigation. Since Gabriel Agreste was the last and only other person in the library during the fire, he was the only witness they had. But he claimed to have no idea how the fire started.

 

Paon kept questioning the officer, and he reluctantly admitted to her that the one thing they knew for sure was that the fire was definitely intentional.

 

The fire started on purpose.

 

Emily had only one class with Gabriel Agreste. She had only been in school for three days, so she hardly knew anything about the boy. He seemed quiet, kind of shy, but very polite. In fact, he might have been the politest teenage boy she had ever met- he always said please and thank you, he never talked during class, and he would smile respectfully at her whenever he caught her trying to look into his bag. She wasn’t certain- because she had yet to stay at school for the entire lunch break- but she didn’t think he had many friends. The few times they talked to each other were brief, but seemed kind.

 

Even so, she knew he wasn’t the one to start the fire.

 

It just didn’t seem logical to her. She had no facts to back up her claim, just a gut feeling. But for her, a gut feeling was usually more than enough.

 

After he promised to update her once they had more information, she got ready to leave. Paon had every intention to leave the station with one of the handheld radios, but she knew Laurrel would kill her if she didn’t at least put an effort and _try_ to ask. But just as she predicated, he said no.

 

So she took one anyways.

 

Paon retransformed and became Emily once more. She rushed home to drop it off before she had to get back to school.

 

After school, Laurrel gave her the inevitable lecture. Today’s topic was: stealing. Emily, like usual, tuned her out until she finished. Sometimes she couldn’t tell the small kwami apart from her own mother.

* * *

 

 

The walkie-talkie kept Emily very busy the next two days. When she was at school, she kept it off and hidden in her closet, just in case her parents were ever home without her knowledge.

 

By the time it got to Saturday, Emily was exhausted. Her first week of school had finally come to an end, and her homework was already starting to pile up. Normally, she was a pretty good student. But now that she had a miraculous, she started to prioritize her superhero duties over her homework. And because of her walkie-talkie, she heard about every robbery, car accident, or cat stuck in a tree as soon as the police heard about it. She knew school would only get harder from that point, and she intended to spend her Saturday catching up on sleep.

 

She was in bed, awake but not wanting to get up from her comfortable position when she heard a muffled voice coming from the closet. She groaned and put her pillow over her head. She knew the sound was coming from the walkie-talkie. But at that moment, all she cared about was getting a few more minutes of sleep.

 

Emily opened her eyes to see if Laurrel was awake. Laurrel was resting besides her, but it was obvious the noises weren’t going to wake her up any time soon. She knew that there was no way she was going to go back to sleep with the constant background noise.

 

She reluctantly got out of bed and walked to her closet, mentally berating herself for not turning it off last night before going to sleep. Once she opened her closet door, the noises became much clearer.

 

Emily was about to turn the walkie-talkie off, until she heard someone say ‘Gabriel Agreste.’

 

Now she was awake. She quickly turned the volume up. “-is coming in later today for questioning. Officer Pierre has requested to be the one to talk with him.” Said a voice over the walkie-talkie.

 

“Copy that. Has anyone let Paon know?” asked another voice.

 

“No, Pierre has asked that we not tell anyone. He doesn’t want her to be involved in the investigation.”

 

 _“What?!”_ Emily exclaimed. Laurrel flew off the bed.

 

“What is it? What’s going on?” Laurrel asked, looking around the room for signs of danger.

 

“That police officer lied to me! He promised he’d keep me updated but then he told all the other officers not to tell me anything! Who does he think he is?” Emily was angrily pacing her room. Once Laurrel realized that there was no immediate danger, she flew over to Emily to try and calm her down.

 

“Emily, calm down. I’m sure there’s some sort of explanation for this.” She said to the girl.

 

“Oh, there’d better be! In fact, lets go to the station right now and ask him why he was planning on keeping this from me! _Transformer_ _moi_! ” Before Laurrel could get another word in, Emily had turned into Paon and was opening her window, ready to go to the police station and give Officer Pierre a piece of her mind.

 

* * *

 

 

Paon landed on the roof of the police station, fuming. She gripped both of her fans in her hands, pacing on the roof. At that moment, she wanted more than anything to go into the station and tell Officer Pierre exactly what she thought of him. But the rational part of her had realized on the way here that no one would take her seriously if she acted like a teenager.

 

She paced back and forth on the roof, waiting for her anger to subside. She liked to think that she had gotten better at controlling her emotions and impulses since getting her miraculous, although not by much. It wasn’t long though before her frustration turned into a mild annoyance. She already knew from previous experience that the police didn’t like her getting involved, and they didn’t want to admit that her presence in Paris was helping to lower the crime rates. So really, she shouldn’t have been so surprised that they didn’t inform her that Gabriel would be coming in for questioning.

 

 _Even though I specifically asked them to tell me._ She thought. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so bad about taking the walkie-talkie.

 

Paon walked to the edge of the roof. She could see a bus stop across the street, and a couple of people stepped of the bus. One of them was a teenage boy with whitish-blonde hair and a purple backpack.

 

Gabriel Agreste had arrived.

 

Paon watched him as he crossed the street. She waited for him to near the police station. Without even thinking about it, Paon jumped of the roof and landed next to him. He jumped away from her in surprise, and she let out a snort before she could stop herself.

 

“Long time no see, Gabriel.” She said with a smirk.

 

“Paon! What are you doing here?” he responded.

 

“I’m listening in to your questioning, if you don’t mind.” She was surprised to see the relieved look that crossed his face. Paon opened the door for him before he could even get a word out and put her hand out in an ‘after you’ gesture. Gabriel blushed and stuttered out a “thanks.” She tried not to think about how cute he looked when he was flustered.

 

Paon walked in after Gabriel. The moment they entered the building, Paon realized she wasn’t angry anymore. Instead, she was excited to see the look on officer Pierre’s face when he saw that despite his efforts to keep her out of the loop, she was here anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm also on tumblr @buymepizzaordie


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